I had taken a five-day getaway to Arizona for spring training; the Cactus League in late February-early March is one of my favorite things in the world. On my fourth night in, I sat in my hotel room flipping through a book on the Cactus League, and I came across a chapter devoted to a place I had never been.
And that’s how I ended up entering the name of an abandoned mineral bath resort in Mesa into my GPS on a Friday morning.
The Buckhorn Baths were a spring institution for ballplayers and celebrities located on what is now the corner of E. Main St. and Recker Road in Mesa.
Established by Ted and Alice Sliger in 1939, the Buckhorn Baths hosted numerous teams as they prepared for the season. The New York Giants, their most frequent visitors started the trend in 1947.
In 1999, the Buckhorn Baths closed for good, and have been sitting abandoned ever since.
I can’t believe it took me as long as it did to make it here. I’m fascinated with historic abandoned places, and I love baseball. It’s a perfect combination.
Wouldn’t it be great if the people in Mesa were able to transform this into a Cactus League Museum? It would probably never happen. But at the very least, I really hope they can avoid tearing this all down. You can imagine how wonderful this place was in its heyday just by looking at it.
For a good history of this place, I recommend checking out Cactus League Spring Training by Susie Steckner and the Mesa Historical Museum (Arcadia, 2012). There are some wonderful pictures in there.
The Hardball Voyager 